Dakota Beacon

If anyone should be held accountable for DST, Ben Franklin must accept the credit or take the blame -- the same Ben Franklin of kites-and-lightning fame. Mr. Franklin conceived the idea while in Paris. One morning, rudely awakened by a noise at 6:00 a.m., he was amazed to find his room filled with light. Even more amazing was the amount of daylight lost to those traditionally arising around noon. His idea struck him like a bolt of lightning, so to speak. Whimsically he wrote of his idea in “Journal de Paris” going so far as to calculate potential monetary savings if people arose earlier and capitalized on existing daylight.

Before the mid-eighteen hundreds most nations determined their own time. A nation based its time on a prime meridian that ran through its capitol city. Britain’s prime meridian ran through London, France’s ran through Paris, Russia’s through St. Petersburg and the United States’ through Washington, DC. As long as travel and communications maintained a slow pace and clocks remained notoriously inaccurate, relaxed time arrangements between countries were no bother.

Happy Election Day! We hope this day finds you and your friends and family safe and well.

To help mark the occasion, please enjoy this informative article from our Constitutional scholar Dr. John Sparks. In the op-ed, Sparks examines the reasons behind a recent call to “pack the court”—adding four more seats to the Supreme Court. Can this be done legally? What are the ramifications? What is the history of the high Court? Sparks argues, “Court packing is unnecessary and potentially destructive of the court’s dignity and high standing. It would undermine the delicate balance between the branches that the Founders labored to ensure.”

This campaign has served to highlight the division among Americans - we have on the one hand fearful people who want someone to reassure them that all will be well, they will be somehow taken good care of.  On the other we have hard-working people who want nothing but to be left alone and allowed to live their lives, support their families, worship as they please and enjoy the fruits of their successes.  Trump has brought together an amazingly diverse army of supporters - we don't know if they will be enough to give him another term, but we can see how the success of each facet of this army lends success to the others.  Reagan's belief in a sort of organic wealth, a "trickle-down" economy was mis-named.  It does not really come from the top - it is mearely not capped.  Kennedy said a "rising tide lifts all boats", and we can see that it does.  Under the tax cuts, the sensible business deals with other nations and trading partners, the relaxing of onerous restriction, America has prospered, even in the wake of massive shutdowns due to COVD and to foreign-sponsored domestic terrorism in our cities for months.  It is interesting to take a look at why.

Biden does have a chance mainly because this isn’t about Biden. It’s about Trump. A man evoking strong feelings, there’s perhaps more than ever in American history a pro-incumbent and anti-incumbent vote. The love affair with Trump is reflected at his rallies. The antipathy for him is represented in the irrational, TDS “Orange Man Bad!” phenomenon and video-captured snowflake eruptions.

Those thus afflicted are voting against Trump and not for the NPC on the ballot’s other side. It wouldn’t matter who or what NPC was. He could be an irascible, wobbly and wizened codger (and he is). He could be catatonic (he’s getting there). It doesn’t matter that he never had a lick of principle even in the last millennium or that he now doesn’t remember what he was told to pretend his principles were last week. Not being Trump is enough.

I had to argue with a relative in Mississippi about the need to vote.  The person I was arguing with assured me that Mississippi was in the bag for Trump so one more vote would make no difference in that state's electoral college vote.  Sure, I said.  But what if everyone in Mississippi felt the same way?  What is different for you from thousands of other residents of Mississippi?  Well, I think it was not I but a few images of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris threatening more lockdowns, gun grabs, more indoctrination in the schoos, more stifling of our FIrst Amendment rights, court packing and hopeless and dangerous foreign policy, which convinced the person to vote.  This is the problem.  We hear about voter suppression.  This can happen with our cooperation - we listen to polls, we watch what appears to be so much apathy or so much enthusiasm by so many others as to render us feeling impotent.  One drop of water in the sea, after all, is not noticeabe.  But imagine a sea without a drop of water.  Please do your sacred duty today.  Vote.

PLEASANT SURPRISE; THEY DID IT!; THE WORST KEPT SECRET; SANFORD HEALTH; SAILING AGAINST THE WIND; A BIT SMUG?; THE BAD BOY LIST; SLOPPY NEIGHBORS; HOW DO THE DAKOTA TWINS COMPARE?; SKKYSKOPES; DAKTOIDS

Our world has become a narrow place, especially for those who are accustomed to thinking independently.  For years many Americans have voted out of familiar habit.  But times have changed.  The parties have changed.  the issues have become more intense.  In the video linked here Father Ed Meeks discusses this.  I think it is important not only for Catholics but for anyone who feels religious freedom must be protected, and for anyone who wants to live and vote with regard to a moral compass.  Fr. Meeks has shown great courage in his commitment to his beliefs - the Catholic Church is in turmoil because of a divide between a rogue Pope and the traditional church teachings.  Please listen and share his message.  

Yesterday we lost one of our most beloved and iconic film actors - Sean Connery died in his sleep in the early hours of October 31, following a periond in which he was in poor health.  It was sad news indeed for those of us who cherished his exciting and often whimsical portrayals.  He was especially known for his adventure/suspense characters, for most of us beginning with James Bond.  His more mature roles were every bit as action-filled and often increasingly whimsical.  It is rare to put those two characteristics together.  We can be thankful that so much of his work is available on dvd today.  Connery was 90.

California was one of the least populated regions of our country before European colonizers spread across the continent. Research shows that droughts in the region have on occasion lasted on the order of 100 years; evidence also suggests that massive wildfires regularly swept through the region in the past.

A 2007 paper in the journal Forest Ecology and Management found that prior to European colonization in the 1800s, more than 4.4 million acres of California forest and shrub land burned annually, far more than the area of California that has burned since year 2000, which ranges from 0.09 million acres to 1.59 million acres per year.

Fossil fuels having been the key driver of our country’s rapid economic development over the past 160 years. Fracking, however, has become one of the hot-button issues in this year’s presidential campaign. In this article, Dr. Mark Hendrickson examines the importance of fossil fuels to the American economy. He writes, “I will not wade into the political debate, but I do want to clarify some basic economic facts about the fracking industry. I share these as an economist who has long lived in western Pennsylvania and taught and lectured on energy.”

We are approaching the finish line of the most important election of our lifetimes.  At the last moments, when it appears that things are not going all that well for Biden in Minnesota, some interesting and dangerous things are beginning to take shape.  Minnesota may look placid, but its people have allowed some very dangerous people to assume positions of power.  It is now a powder keg about to blow.  If you live in Minnesota GET TO THE POLLS EARLY AND VOTE.   If you can help a (sane) Minnesota resident get out to vote please do so.  When dangerous animals are cornered and feel threatened they become more dangerous.  This could be lethal.  Let us all work furiously and pray for a good result.

The world has become a pretty scary place.  In times like these - in any time - it is essential if we are to survive that we know who our enemies are and as much about them and what makes them tick as we can learn.  We are fortunate that we have a few experts who have unique insight into the various activities and motivations of China, our country's Number One enemy.  Not Number One Rival, not Number One competitor.  Our Number One Enemy.  China does not want to compete with the United States.  China wants to destroy the United States.  They, like Hitler and Stalin before them, have visions of conquering the world.  They want to obliterate freedom and human rights because these get in their way.  They want to have the power to silence critics, to weld people into homes, to utiize slave labor, to harvest organs from living involuntary donors.  They cannot coexist with a free people.  On the eve of an all-important election we need to be aware of its importance to them and to us.

In the hideous death of some literary figures may be found a semblance of the ghastly, the grisly, and the gruesomeness of Halloween. But, in the modern day, in a weird way, death takes on a carnival atmosphere. Beyond the writings for which some literary figures are known, consider their tragic fate.

In 1931, as the Great Deression deepened across America, then President Herbert Hoover reacted to the devastating free-fall in farm prices by destroying livestock and produce.  This would seem to be the very last thing anyone would want to see at a time of poverty and desperation.  It was an horrific response.  In 2020, we have seen a crisis which we hope will be short-term, but no less severe in the moment.  The reaction of the Trump administration, however, is quite different and more creative.  Maybe we should forever avoid people who have spent their careers in government.  Maybe that shoudl be a deal-breaker for us.  Today's story also has a chapter about a small-time career guy in New Jersey.  His is not a pretty picture.  

At the time of this compilation, Sunday, October 25^th, 2020, the daily high deaths in our country for each month of the attack by the CCP Virus is as follows:

WORST OF THE WORST; RURAL COUNTIES HIT HARDEST; A RISKY JAMESTOWN NOTION; OIL PRODUCTION LEVELING OFF; THE LINE 3 PIPELINE; INTERMODAL; BONANZA MAN; AN UNHAPPY SCENE; SUPER SUNFLOWER YEAR; BET YOU DIDN’T KNOW; SID HARTMAN; “I WAS NAIVE"

Something occurred to me recently while watching a post-debate Frank Luntz focus group. Comprising undecided voters who liked neither Trump nor Biden, the participants nonetheless believed the president won the debate and most said they’d probably vote for him as “the lesser of two evils.” Their preference for him on policy overrode their higher estimation of Biden’s character.

If they were to read what follows, however, I think they might change that estimation. No, this won’t be about Burisma and the Ukraine and China and Russia and Hunter. It’s about something almost universally missed. 

Today is October 25 - the birthday of one of western culture's greatest artists - the Viennese composer, Johann Strauss II.  Here is a brief synopsis of his story, a few fond memories of performances past and a delightful collection of great music!  Please take time out from politics and the somewhat dreary news of the day and sit back with a glass of wine (maybe even Champagne) and get your balance back!  This is the sweetest fruit of western music.

Since the last debate there has been a flurry of outraged comments about the "cages" at the border, immigration and "coyotes".  Most Americans know what is meant by the term "coyote", just as they do the term "mule".  A coyote is someone who smuggles humans across the border for profit.  They are predators.  The children in their company are victims.  The people at our border who end up receiving them have a real heart-rending dilemma as to what to do with them and for them.  Their parents, when identified, refuse to be reuinted with them.  The fault ultimately lies with governments so corrupt and crime and despair so rampant that mothers and fathers are giving their children up.  We have two options - turn the kids loose with these predators to continue trafficking them in the U.S. and lose track altogether, or hold them in temporary custody in the hope that some better solution will develop.  

Well, it's in the can.  The final Trump-Biden debate for this year is now history.  Trump went in fit and feisty, after a week of high-energy rallies, held live, coast to coast which followed a bout with COVID.  Biden went in haggard and irritable, following a week of revelations of his, his family's and his son's illicit influence peddling in Iraq, Russia, China and Ukraine (so far) - revelations which are beyond reasonable doubt what with the actual laptop containing them in the hands of the FBI, corroborating information and statements volunteered by at least two other people directly involved.  Those on the left, however, are quick to give him kudos for merely standing up for 90 minutes.  He managed to fling a lot of falsehoods out there regarding both his and the Obama administration and allegations against Trump.  None of them took very well.  It might have worked in the old whistlestop days but news travels too fast for that now, even managed news. Stuff gets out, like his lies about his position on fracking for one.  

This year has been one like no other.  We have had impeachment, surging economy brought to a sudden stop by a worldwide pandemic of epic proportions, lies and inaccurate information about just about everything.  We've had riots from coast to coast that make 1968 look like a Sunday school picnic, looting, arson, beatings, taking over of whole sections of cities and the press assuring us, against a backdrop of cities in flames that the protests were "mostly peaceful".  Their organizers have made no bones about the fact that they are, in their own words, "trained Marxists".  We've had mayors out doing the Macarena instead of stopping riots, while cracking the whip over any business that dared to open its doors because of lockdowns. We have a voiced, imminent threat of court-packing in the wake of confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett as SCOTUS Justice, should that stay on track.  It's denied, it's affirmed, it's taken off the table as far as questions from the press go.  The insanity keeps topping itself.  The last couple of weeks we have seen the falling away of the disguise of the Democrat [temporary] presidential candiate and his son as ordinary people, revealing that they are allegedly active members of an international crime family.  But the story of the year - perhaps the story of the century - is the one that has not been told because it is that the press has zero integrity and sees itself as Democrat Party operatives in sheeps' clothing and their function to try to batter Trump as relentlessly as they can with stupid and irrelevant insults and protect the alleged criminals.   One would think that if there is any story of interest to Americans on the eve of a presidential election it would be the apparent comproimising of Joe Biden and his family by the sworn enemies of America.  One would think.  Gee, was it only last February that the baseless impeachment was cancelled?  But Trump may have topped off the year with something even more extraordinary than four Nobel Peace Prize nominations.  He might have countered everything with an amazing act of theater.  Is it chess after all?  Or just instinct.  Doesn't matter.

Finally -- it’s autumn. It’s officially, deliciously autumn. Three cheers for the season! This is my time of year.

I have an ongoing love affair with autumn. Why do I love Thee? Let me count the ways. (Least of all reasons – the mosquitos are dead!)

In fact, Trump’s enemies can use his sensitivity to others’ comments and behavior against him by pushing the right buttons. He absolutely must not let this happen, and the next debate must not be a repeat performance of the first.

So here’s my message to President Trump: Don’t let Biden and the moderator goad you into grouchiness. Cultivate the campaign-rally Trump; if you have to, visualize your millions of supporters cheering and applauding in television-land. You can be aggressive, but do it with charm, wit and a twinkle in your eye. Kill them with cute cleverness.

Everyday the news services bring us another story of how this Chinese virus is messing up our world.  Today was no exception.  There were numerous stories out today revealing different ways in which we are being damaged - ruined - as human beings by this virus attack courtesy of China, either through its sloppy research or outright malice.  Doesn't matter.  The virus is with us now and it is up to us to prevent it as much as possible from damaging our people.  In this our government agencies have been woefully off the mark.  Some nations have done better than others with this.  We are all watching to see corelation between public policy and public health outcomes.  But this virus can do far more than make us physically sick.  It can destroy our very character.

GET OUT OF THEIR WAY; CAN’T GET A LID ON IT; REGIONAL POWER; NEW ALTRU DEBT; NOTABLE IRONY; “DIVERSIFY OUR ECONOMY”; AG BOUNCING BACK; A FLOOD OF MISSIONARIES; GOEHNER MARRIES GACKLE; BOBCAT; TARGET; DAKTOIDS

It didn’t surprise the informed, and understandably a bit cynical, to hear that the FBI sat on Hunter Biden’s laptop instead of seeking justice. The bureau was previously involved in an illegal plot to take down Donald Trump, after all, and its Deep State elements would assuredly love to see Joe Biden succeed him in January. So why would they reveal damning information on their establishment hope?

Last week, as everyone knows, two important things happened - the two presidential candidate town halls (a study in contrasts for sure) and the release of some damning documents revealing the criminal enterprises of the Biden family.  I watched mostly the Trump grilling by the obnoxious and obviously partisan Savannah Guthrie, but we all saw some of both - most notably a question to Biden from a plant in the audience with a scripted question for him about a supposed "transgender daughter" (meaning a little boy), eight years of age and where Biden stood on transgendering children.  Biden's answer was both sickening and shocking.  And what was even more shocking is that everyone seemed to just take it in stride.  There was no right-wing version there of Savannah Guthrie to hone in on the latest Biden scandal - he got a free pass there.  But the whole atmosphere of this town hall speaks volumes about the corruption and the sorry state of our culture.

The 20th Century produced some really great American songs . . . or rather our songwriters did!  I thought, since I am looking for escape from 2020, that the music of a reall American genius might be appropriate to the occasion.  I hope you enjoy this as much as I have.  When my grandmother died, two pieces of music were played at her funeral - my kids singing the Welsh hymn, "All Through the Night" and Irving Berlin's "Alexander's Ragtime Band".  She was a great fan of this "fine man".  So partly for her and partly for myself, I thought I'd give it all another good listen.  Here is a brief sketch of Irving Berlin's life and just a tiny sample of his music.  I hope it inspires you to look for some more.

In lieu of a normal debate, last Thursday we had to settle for a couple of rival town halls - not only rival in terms of candidates, but also in terms of being in the same time slot on two different networks - Trump on NBC and Biden on ABC.  The cotrasts between the two could not be more stark.  Biden's came off as though it were a couple of old friends having a drink together in their easy chairs by the fireplace.  Trump's was crackling with tension.  Instead of the corporate boardroom white leather chairs, the Trump event was on high stools the interrogator not leaning over an armchair like Edward R. Murrow, but more like a shreiking parrot on a tree branch.  Dressed in blinding hot pink, the look suited the atmosphere.  If you saw these two - or even either one of them - please share your impression.

I just watched this man's message.  I think you should see it too